Ai Weiwei at work on a heavy-metal rock album and movie project

Ai Weiwei

Robert Vos / European Pressphoto Agency

Ai Weiwei announces live on a screen the winners of the 18th edition of the Hivos Tiger Awards in Rotterdam. The Chinese artist was a jury member of the recent International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands.

Ai Weiwei announces live on a screen the winners of the 18th edition of the Hivos Tiger Awards in Rotterdam. The Chinese artist was a jury member of the recent International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands. (Robert Vos / European Pressphoto Agency)

Ai Weiwei isn't able to leave Beijing because of his ongoing legal battles with the Chinese government, but the world comes to him. The artist is keeping busy with projects that include a planned heavy-metal album and a new movie.

Ai's debut album will be released in about three weeks, according to a report from Reuters. The album is expected to be titled "Divina Commedia," after the epic poem by the Italian poet Dante. The title is also a pun on the artist's nickname "Ai God." (In China, the word for God is similar to the Chinese for "Divine Comedy.")

Ai told Reuters that the idea for the album came while he was held in secret detention for 81 days in 2011. "All I could sing was Chinese People's Liberation Army songs," Ai said. "After that I thought: When I'm out, I'd like to do something related to music."

Ai recently served as a jury member for the International Film Festival Rotterdam in the Netherlands and the Geneva Human Rights Film Festival in Switzerland. Because the artist can't leave Beijing, he participated in the festivals remotely via the Internet.

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